Never was so much owed by so many to so few.

Medal of Honor Week 2016

In April, the city of Gainesville, a small town north of Dallas that has been recognized as America’s most patriotic city, once again welcomed Medal of Honor Recipients from across the country. Each year Gainesville celebrates the brave service members who have received the nation’s top award for valor in combat against the enemy above and beyond the call of duty.

Since the Medal of Honor host city program’s inception in 2001, the host city program, along with volunteers from across the community, have created a personal and interactive, platform in which ordinary citizens and especially children can interact with distinguished members of the military and veteran communities. As the program has grown, it has become a symbol of community pride having had over half of the
nation’s surviving medal of honor recipients take part.

The 2016 festivities which began on Wednesday, April 6th, with an escorting motorcade of first responders, veterans, and other supporters, stretching over 8 miles in length. The recipients were further honored on Thursday and Friday night at two sold out community dinner events. The recipients also made individual appearances during the week to local classrooms to meet with students on a personal level, sharing both their stories and their encouragement.

The culmination of these activities is the annual parade and book signing which were held from Saturday morning until late afternoon on April 9th in downtown Gainesville. Photos from the motorcade, Thursday’s Patriot dinner, and the parade can be found on the Some Gave All Blog Facebook page.

I would like to personally thank the Medal of Honor recipients, our veterans, and the supporters who made this event possible. For more information on this and future Medal of Honor events please visit www.medalofhonorhostcity.com.